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Shopify vs. Magento: What you need to know when choosing your next ecommerce platform

It is not hard to determine which is better in our eyes: we dedicate our services to Shopify, even though we understand it’s a decision you should take based on the nature and size of your business. But what makes it so much better than its biggest rival?

Cost

Magento is free and offers two bundles, the Enterprise Edition and the Community Edition. Magento is an open-source venture, contingent upon a huge number of designers and a group of clients who propose new elements to the framework.

Shopify is not free, but rather offers a 14-day trial for new clients. Plans are offered in three bundles named Basic, Professional and Unlimited. The Basic package goes for $29 every month, the expert package for $79 every month and the Unlimited package for $179 every month. For a newbie business, the $29 every month essential bundle would be perfect considering that it accompanies 1GB worth of document storage room, a marked down code motor, boundless item transfers and all day, every day support.

On this premise, the choice between Magento or Shopify will rely upon your inclination: do you lean toward free stuff or do you need to spend some cash on a premium item? Be that as it may, as we keep on looking at these two stages, something will clearly give and the valuing won't be the picking point any longer. Neither of the items have an edge over the other here. One is open-source and free for use by one and all, while the other is a premium stage for individuals who have the cash to spend and understand the end value.

Service

Getting the support you require for maintaining your business is the way of preventing customer dissatisfaction. Preferably, Magento, as said prior, is a free, open-source online application. You don't get support when you don't pay for it. If there is a glitch on Magento, you would need to employ an expert designer to offer you some assistance or search through forums to find individuals to help you.

Shopify offers all day, every day client backup. Contacting customer support is simple and the company has plenty of experts in all desired fields. Have an issue tweaking your layout's plan? An expert will bail you out. Don't have quality pictures for your online shop? The photographic guys can help. Battling with building up your online shop? Developers can rescue you, including advising you on what custom applications you need to get your business up and running.

Build

The greatest thing about having an online shop on a tight spending plan is getting tools and programming that work without driving you to spend a lot on additionals. On Shopify, you don’t have to worry about hosting, IT services and costly SSL certificates. Magento doesn't offer any of that. While Magento gives a great deal of adaptability because of its huge number of expansions, Shopify rearranges things without the requirement for a large portion of these extras. Magento needs you to set up your business by obtaining a domain and hosting as well, and you will most likely get stuck creating the numerous components available and absence of any customer support. That will place you into a position where you need to employ an IT individual to essentially save you from your e-commerce shipwreck.

All you need to set up your Shopify online business is a domain because Shopify stores are hosted on its very own servers and, regardless of how high your activity gets, you will never need to get your own hosting arrangement outside of their platform. Consequently, while Shopify doesn't give you 100% control over your online store, it gives a great deal of cost-adequacy since you just need to counter in the $29 every month unless you have subscribed to other in-application administrations offered by either Shopify or other outsider businesses.

Templates

Both Shopify and Magento offer a huge number of varied themes for your online shop. But for me, Shopify’s are the most tasteful. Magento's templates aren’t awful: they are all right and its premium ones, priced at around $60, will do the job. Yet if you have a desire for the better things in life, Shopify is better in the template sphere. Shopify's premium topics are more expensive with some costing upwards of $160. With the quality you are purchasing though, I wouldn’t be tight with the templates for example take the Retina template: it has everything you need to create a world class online shopping experience for a user. It perfectly marries product photography with a simple navigation and lets you showcase the brand in its entirety on every single landing page. For $160 you have purchased an award-winning, beautifully crafted theme that will give a customer an exceptional e-commerce experience.

User Experience

Both company platforms have some level of ease of use yet once more, for the very reason that Shopify needs to strive to keep their customers who are fundamentally paying for the service, the Canadian startup needs to inspire here, too. While Magento gives a gazillion options of applications and expansions, their stage feels jumbled and requires more ability to oversee when contrasted with their partner. Shopify is cleaned, sorted out, and everything pleasantly straightforward. For a first-time client, Magento will give you a headache.

Conclusion

The whole concept about making a place that should handle online enterprises is an incredible feat. In fact, there are hundreds of other suppliers out there who do what Shopify and Magento do. For this article though, I chose these two because they are eminent in the business and have a massive customer base and additionally this is the most common question we are asked at We Make Websites. Which one is better?

Magento provides high flexibility, and that is something that would fit with a huge company with an enormous budget that will go into hiring experienced Magento developers and experts to do the back-end work and get things going for you. For growth stage and money savvy businesses, Shopify brings much-needed simplicity and support for a fraction of the long term cost.

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About the author

Jacinta is an Aussie export who manages growth at We Make Websites. After completing her studies, she focused on fashion full time and it wasn't long before her bags were packed and she was braving the streets of New York. From model to agent to creative director, she spent the next six years living in all the major US capitals. She is a swimmer by heart, a walker by nature and, most of all, an advocate for vegetables.